Professors Col and Benton Address Inspectors General Conference in Africa

Professors Jeanne-Marie Col and Ned Benton attended a conference of the African Forum of State Inspectors General in Luanda, Angola. The Forum includes the African Nations of Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, The Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Republic of Guinea (Conakry), Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda. Representatives from non-member observer nations also attended including Kenya.

Professor Jeanne Marie Col and Professor Ned Benton with the African Inspectors General

Others attending the conference were representatives of external organizations including the European Union’s Inspection and Oversight Authority (OLAF), the African Development Bank, EuropeAid (the EU’s delivery agency for support to developing nations), the World Bank, and the University of Senegal.

The focus of the conference was to develop guidance documents for the oversight of large infrastructure projects, recognizing the differences between routine agency monitoring and monitoring of huge construction projects.

Professors Benton and Col also went to Angola’s Public Administration Institute where a course was underway for investigative supervisors. They made a 90-minute presentation on the recently-released investigation standards of the Federal Inspectors General in the US, using the the Walmart de Mexico bribery case as an opportunity to examine how the standards might be applied in Angola to prevent similar corruption by corporations investing in Angola.